Degrees But No Jobs: Could Unemployment Hurt BJP in Rajasthan?

“Today there is no importance of a person without a job,” a 28-year-old with four degrees says.

(Photo: Arnica Kala/The Quint)

Video Editor: Purnendu Pritam
Cameraperson: Aishwarya S Iyer

“Sometimes it feels like I have not accomplished anything in life, we feel very disappointed,” 28-year-old Aditi who has a degree in Bachelors in commerce, Masters in commerce and a Bachelors in law tells The Quint in Jaipur.

She has been trying to look for a government job but she says the vacancies are too few. Tired, she also applied to private banks for a job, from where she either got no response at all or she was given jobs that didn’t suit her educational qualifications.

“There are private jobs but they not deserving of your educational qualifications. If you have done Masters and apply for a job, they offer you one of an accountant with a salary of Rs 10,000 - Rs 15,000 a monthm which is not befitting. After studying so much and not being able to land a proper job, it seems like a waste of time and a waste of an education,” Aditi said.

Similarly about 350 kilometres away in Jodhpur, we met 28-year-old Hemant Vijay. He has done a Bachelors in arts and law, a Masters in law and a three-month long RSCIT computer course to increase his employability. “Basic functions of computer and internet are needed in every job,” he says. Despite this, he has not landed a job for the last two years.

The stress of passing time reveals itself when he says, “As you grow older, it is important to get a job. As today there is no importance of a person without a job.”

He has two younger brothers. Complaining about vacancies, he says, “Vacancies are not opening. In all of India there are around 5,000 judges, jobs are lying empty but vacancies are not opening. JLO is a junior law officer, today it will be five years since vacancies came out for it. Like this there are other job roles, this is just an example,” he says.

If you look at the unemployment rate (Rajasthan) from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy report, it has risen from about 6.7 percent in March 2016 to almost 10 percent in March 2019. Which is much more than the national average of 6.7 percent.

The Vasundhara Raje government in 2013 said they will create 15 lakh jobs, but they failed. The Narendra Modi government said they will create 2 crore jobs a year but they failed. What remains to be seen is if this will hurt BJP’s prospects in a state where the party won all 25 Lok Sabha seats in the 2014 elections.